Part 26

FLAMET. (See la Billardiere, Flamet de.)

FLEURANT (Mother), ran a cafe at Croisic which Jacques Cambremer visited. [A Seaside Tragedy.]

FLEURIOT, grenadier of the Imperial Guard, of colossal size, to whom Philippe de Sucy entrusted Stephanie de Vandieres, during the passage of the Beresina in 1812. Unfortunately separated from Stephanie, the grenadier did not find her again until 1816. She had taken refuge in an inn of Strasbourg after escaping from an insane asylum. Both were then sheltered by Dr. Fanjat and taken to Auvergne, where Fleuriot soon died. [Farewell.]

FLEURY, retired infantry captain, comptroller of the Cirque- Olympique, and employed during the Restoration in Rabourdin's bureau, of the minister of finance. He was attached to his chief, who had saved him from destitution. A subscriber, but a poor payer, to "Victories and Conquests." A zealous Bonapartist and Liberal. His three great men were Napoleon, Bolivar and Beranger, all of whose ballads he knew by heart, and sang in a sweet, sonorous voice. He was swamped with debt. His skill at fencing and small-arms kept him from Bixiou's jests. He was likewise much feared by Dutocq who flattered him basely. Fleury was discharged after the nomination of Baudoyer as chief of division in December, 1824. He did not take it to heart, saying that he had at his disposal a managing editorship in a journal. [The Government Clerks.] In 1840, still working for the above theatre, Fleury became manager of "L'Echo de la Bievre," the paper owned by Thuillier. [The Middle Classes.]

FLICOTEAUX, rival of Rousseau the Aquatic. Historic, legendary and strictly honest restaurant-keeper in the Latin quarter between rue de la Harpe and rue des Gres--Cujas--enjoying the custom, in 1821-22, of Daniel d'Arthez, Etienne Lousteau and Lucien Chardon de Rubempre. [A Distinguished Provincial at Paris.]

FLORENT, partner of Chanor; they were manufacturers and dealers in bronze, rue des Tournelles, Paris, time of Louis Philippe. [Cousin Betty. Cousin Pons.]

FLORENTNE. (see Cabirolle, Agathe-Florentine.)

FLORIMOND (Madame), dealer in linens, rue Vielle-du-Temple, Paris, 1844-45. Maintained by an "old fellow" who made her his heir, thanks to Fraisier, the man of business, whom she perhaps would have married through gratitude, had it not been for his physical condition. [Cousin Pons.]

FLORINE. (See Nathan, Mme. Raoul.)

FLORVILLE (La), actress at the Panorama-Dramatique in 1821. Among her contemporaries were Coralie, Florine, and Bouffe, or Vignol. On the first night performance of "The Alcade," she played in a curtain- raiser, "Bertram." For a few days she was the mistress of a Russian prince who took her to Saint-Mande, paying her manager a good sum for her absence from the theatre. [A Distinguished Provincial at Paris.]

FOEDORA (Comtesse), born about 1805. Of Russian lower class origin and wonderfully beautiful. Espoused perhaps morganatically by a great lord of the land. Left a widow she reigned over Paris in 1827. Supposed to have an income of eighty thousand francs. She received in her drawing- rooms all the notables of the period, and there "appeared all the works of fiction that were not published anywhere else." Raphael de Valentin was presented to the countess by Rastignac and fell desperately in love with her. But he left her house one day never to return, being definitely persuaded that she was "a woman without a heart." Her memory was cruel, and her address enough to drive a diplomat to despair. Although the Russian ambassador did not receive her, she had entry into the set of Mme. de Serizy; visited with Mme. de Nucingen and Mme. de Restaud; received the Duchesse de Carigliano, the haughtiest of the Bonapartist clique. She had listened to many young dandies, and to the son of a peer of France, who had offered her their names in exchange for her fortune. [The Magic Skin.]

FONTAINE (Madame), fortune teller, Paris, rue Vielle-du-Temple, time of Louis Philippe. At one time a cook. Born in 1767. Earned a considerable amount of money, but previously had lost heavily in a lottery. After the suppression of this game of chance she saved up for the benefit of a nephew. In her divinations Mme. Fontaine made use of a giant toad named Astaroth, and of a black hen with bristling feathers, called Cleopatra or Bilouche. These two animals caught Gazonal's eye in 1845, when in company with De Lora and Bixiou he visited the fortune-teller's. The Southerner, however, asked only a five-franc divination, while in the same year Mme. Cibot, who came to consult her on an important matter, had to pay a hundred francs. According to Bixiou, "a third of the lorettes, a fourth of the statesmen and a half of the artists" consulted Mme. Fontaine. She was the Egeria of a minister, and also looked for "a tidy fortune," which Bilouche had promised her. [The Unconscious Humorists. Cousin Pons.]

FONTAINE (Comte de), one of the leaders of the Vendee, in 1799, and then known as Grand-Jacques. [The Chouans.] One of the confidential advisers of Louis XVIII. Field marshal, councillor of state, comptroller of the extraordinary domains of the realm, deputy and peer of France under Charles X.; decorated with the cross of the Legion of Honor and the Order of Saint Louis. Head of one of the oldest houses of Poitou. Had married a Mlle. de Kergarouet, who had no fortune, but who came of a very old Brittany family related to the Rohans. Was the father of three sons and three daughters. The oldest son became president of a court, married the daughter of a multi-millionaire salt merchant. The second son, a lieutenant-general, married Mlle. Monegod, a rich banker's daughter whom the aunt of Duc d'Herouville had refused to consider for her nephew. [Modeste Mignon.] The third son, director of a Paris municipality, then director-general in the Department of Finance, married the only daughter of M. Grossetete, receiver-general at Bourges. Of the three daughters, the first married M. Planat at Baudry, receiver-general; the second married Baron de Villaine, a magistrate of bourgeois origin ennobled by the king; the third, Emilie, married her old uncle, the Comte de Kergarouet, and after his death, Marquis Charles de Vandenesse. [The Ball at Sceaux.] The Comte de Fontaine and his family were present at the Birotteau ball, and after the perfumer's bankruptcy procured a situation for him. [Cesar Birotteau.] He died in 1824. [The Government Clerks.]

FONTAINE (Baronne de), born Anna Grossetete, only daughter of the receiver-general of Bourges. Attended the school of Mlles. Chamarolles with Dinah Piedefer, who became Mme. de la Baudraye. Thanks to her fortune she married the third son of the Comte de Fontaine. She removed to Paris after her marriage and kept up correspondence with her old school-mate who now lived at Sancerre. She kept her informed as to the prevailing styles. Later at the first performance of one of Nathan's dramas, about the middle of the reign of Louis Philippe, Anna de Fontaine affected not to recognize this same Mme. de la Baudraye, then the known mistress of Etienne Lousteau. [The Muse of the Department.]

FONTANIEU (Madame), friend and neighbor of Mme. Vernier at Vouvray in 1831. The jolliest gossip and greatest joker in town. She was present at the interview between the insane Margaritis and Felix Gaudissart, when the drummer was so much at sea. [Gaudissart the Great.]

FONTANON (Abbe), born about 1770. Canon of Bayeux cathedral in the beginning of the nineteenth century when he "guided the consciences" of Mme. and Mlle. Bontems. In November, 1808, he got himself enrolled with the Parisian clergy, hoping thus to obtain a curacy and eventually a bishopric. He became again the confessor of Mlle. Bontems, now the wife of M. de Granville, and contributed to the trouble of that household by the narrowness of his provincial Catholicism and his inflexible bigotry. He finally disclosed to the magistrate's wife the relations of Granville with Caroline Crochard. He also brought sorrow to the last moments of Mme. Crochard, the mother. [A Second Home.] In December, 1824, at Saint-Roch he pronounced the funeral oration of Baron Flamet de la Billardiere. [The Government Clerks.] Previous to 1824 Abbe Fontanon was vicar at the church of Saint Paul, rue Saint-Antoine. [Honorine.] Confessor of Mme. de Lanty in 1839, and always eager to pry into family secrets, he undertook an affair with Dorlange-Sallenauve in the interest of Mariannina de Lanty. [The Member for Arcis.]

FORTIN (Madame), mother of Mme. Marneffe. Mistress of General de Montcornet, who had lavished money on her during his visits to Paris which she had entirely squandered, under the Empire, in the wildest dissipations. For twenty years she queened it, but died in poverty though still believing herself rich. Her daughter inherited from her the tastes of a courtesan. [Cousin Betty.]

FORTIN (Valerie), daughter of preceding and of General de Montcornet. (See Crevel, Madame.)

FOSSEUSE (La), orphan daughter of a grave-digger, whence the nick- name. Born in 1807. Frail, nervous, independent, retiring at first, she tried hiring out, but then fell into vagrant habits. Reared in a village on the outskirts of Grenoble, where Dr. Benassis came to live during the Restoration, she became an object of special attention on the part of the physician who became keenly interested in the gentle, loyal, peculiar and impressionable creature. La Fosseuse though homely was not without charm. She may have loved her benefactor. [The Country Doctor.]

FOUCHE (Joseph), Duc d'Otrante, born near Nantes in 1753; died in exile at Trieste in 1820. Oratorian, member of the National Convention, councillor of state, minister of police under the Consulate and Empire, also chief of the department of the Interior and of the government of the Illyrian provinces, and president of the provisional government in 1815. In September, 1799, Colonel Hulot said: "Bernadotte, Carnot, even citizen Talleyrand--all have left us. In a word we have with us but a single good patriot, friend Fouche, who holds everything by means of the police. There's a man for you!" Fouche took especial care of Corentin who was perhaps his natural son. He sent him to Brittany during an uprising in the year VIII, to accompany and direct Mlle. de Verneuil, who was commissioned to betray and capture the Marquis de Montauran, the Chouan leader. [The Chouans.] In 1806 he caused Senator Malin de Gondreville to be kidnapped by masked men in order that the Chateau de Gondreville might be searched for important papers which, however, proved as compromising for Fouche as for the senator. This kidnapping, which was charged against Michu, the Simeuses and the Hauteserres, led to the execution of the first and the ruin of the others. In 1833, Marsay, president of the ministerial chamber, while explaining the mysteries of the affair to the Princesse de Cadignan, paid this tribute to Fouche: "A genius dark, deep and extraordinary, little understood but certainly the peer of Philip II., Tiberius or Borgia." [The Gondreville Mystery.] In 1809 Fouche and Peyrade saved France in connection with the Walcheren episode; but on the return of the Emperor from the Wagram campaign Fouche was rewarded by dismissal. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]

FOUQUEREAU, concierge to M. Jules Desmarets, stock-broker, rue Menars in 1820. Specially employed to look after Mme. Desmarets. [The Thirteen.]

FOURCHON, retired farmer of the Ronquerolles estate, near the forest of Aigues, Burgundy. Had also been a schoolmaster and a mail-carrier. An old man and a confirmed toper since his wife's death. At Blangy in 1823 he performed the three-fold duties of public clerk for three districts, assistant to a justice of the peace, and clarionet player. At the same time he followed the trade of rope-maker with his apprentice Mouche, the natural son of one of his natural daughters. But his chief income was derived from catching otters. Fourchon was the father-in-law of Tonsard, who ran the Grand-I-Vert tavern. [The Peasantry.]

FOY (Maximilien-Sebastien), celebrated general and orator born in 1775 at Ham; died at Paris in 1825. [Cesar Birotteau.] In 1821, General Foy, while in the shop of Dauriat talking with an editor of the "Constitutionnel" and the manager of "La Minerve," noticed the beauty of Lucien de Rubempre, who had come in with Lousteau to dispose of some sonnets. [A Distinguished Provincial at Paris.]

FRAISIER, born about 1814, probably at Mantes. Son of a cobbler; an advocate and man of business at No. 9 rue de la Perle, Paris, in 1844-45. Began as copy-clerk at Couture's office. After serving Desroches as head-clerk for six years he bought the practice of Levroux, an advocate of Mantes, where he had occasion to meet Leboeuf, Vinet, Vatinelle and Bouyonnet. But he soon had to sell out and leave town on account of violating professional ethics. Whereupon he opened up a consultation office in Paris. A friend of Dr. Poulain who attended the last days of Sylvain Pons, he gave crafty counsel to Mme. Cibot, who coveted the chattels of the old bachelor. He also assured the Camusot de Marvilles that they should be the legatees of the old musician despite the faithful Schmucke. In 1845 he succeeded Vitel as justice of the peace; the coveted place being secured for him by Camusot de Marville, as a fee for his services. In Normandy he again acted successfully for this family. Fraisier was a dried-up little man with a blotched face and an unpleasant odor. At Mantes a certain Mme. Vatinelle nevertheless "made eyes at him"; and he lived at Marais with a servant-mistress, Dame Sauvage. But he missed more than one marriage, not being able to win either his client, Mme. Florimond, or the daughter of Tabareau. To tell the truth De Marville advised him to leave the latter alone. [Cousin Pons.]

FRANCHESSINI (Colonel), born about 1789, served in the Imperial Guard, and was one of the most dashing colonels of the Restoration, but was forced to resign on account of a slur on his character. In 1808, to provide for foolish expenditures into which a woman led him, he forged certain notes. Jacques Collin--Vautrin--took the crime to himself and was sent to the galleys for several years. In 1819 Franchessini killed young Taillefer in a duel, at the instigation of Vautrin. The following year he was with Lady Brandon--probably his mistress--at the grand ball given by the Vicomtesse de Beauseant, just before her flight. In 1839, Franchessini was a leading member of the Jockey club, and held the rank of colonel in the National Guard. Married a rich Irishwoman who was devout and charitable and lived in one of the finest mansions of the Breda quarter. Elected deputy, and being an intimate friend of Rastignac, he evinced open hostility for Sallenauve and voted against his being seated in order to gratify Maxime de Trailles. [Father Goriot. The Member for Arcis.]

FRANCOIS (Abbe), cure of the parish at Alencon in 1816. "A Cheverus on a small scale" he had taken the constitutional oath during the Revolution and for this reason was despised by the "ultras" of the town although he was a model of charity and virtue. Abbe Francois frequented the homes of M. and Mme. du Bousquier and M. and Mme. Granson; but M. du Bousquier and Athanase Granson were the only ones to give him cordial welcome. In his last days he became reconciled with the curate of Saint-Leonard, Alencon's aristocratic church, and died universally lamented. [Jealousies of a Country Town.]

FRANCOIS, head valet to Marshal de Montcornet at Aigues in 1823. Attached specially to Emile Blondet when the journalist visited them. Salary twelve hundred francs. In his master's confidence. [The Peasantry.]

FRANCOIS, in 1822, stage-driver between Paris and Beaumont-sur-Oise, in the service of the Touchard Company. [A Start in Life.]